I work in publishing and I like to read things. Herewith: free association on books, nice things I ate, publishing, editing, and other nice things I ate.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Jack Keruoac--inspirational news for us all

PW's feature article this week was a love letter by Jack's agent, Sterling Lord, to the memory of Jack and the general reading public. In it, he remembers how it took him 4 years to place Jack's ON THE ROAD--and Jack was not a debut author at this time.

Rejections were harsh, including one editor who said that although Jack wrote with a certain charm, this was only a tribute to a lifestyle and wasn't a good or salable book at all. In the end, Viking ended up picking the book up only because they had published his previous works and felt bad about leaving him without a house.